Dying Wish
by Ulquiorra9000
Summary: The Doctor takes Rose to a peaceful kingdom on a beautiful world, but the Queen has gone mad and her schemes threaten to destroy everything that the Doctor holds dear.
1. Chapter 1

**DOCTOR WHO**

"**Dying Wish"**

**Part 1**

"Hey, Rose... do you like fairy tales?"

Rose Tyler looked over at the Doctor and smiled slightly. "As I kid, I liked them. Why do you ask?"

The Doctor, a short-haired man with a black leather jacket and rather big ears, shrugged as he flipped another switch on the TARDIS' control panel. "I've been thinking, that's all. We barely escaped the Dalek in that underground American museum, we fought the Slitheen back in London... and you had to see your father die." With these last words, the Doctor's expression and tone softened a bit.

"I know," Rose said gently. "But what's that got to do with fairy tales?"

"Simple." The Doctor broke out into a grin as he reached over and spun a dial with enthusiasm. "Let's have a change of pace, shall we? I'll take you to Bhealthea Torana, otherwise known as the 'paradise of the Ashmaff sector'!"

Rose stared at the Doctor blankly, then burst out laughing. "You kind of lost me there." She folded her arms across her chest.

The Doctor checked the TARDIS' screen displays as he answered. "Sorry, I'll slow down a bit. You see, the Ashmaff sector has all sorts of scum and villain types... cyborg freaks, pirates, slavers, and not just one, but _two _races of evil bug-men."

"Lovely."

"Hold on." The Doctor waved a finger. "Then there's Bhealthea Torana, a paradise. It's like the garden of Eden in human Christianity, and it's ruled by a millenia-old kingdom. The planet hasn't known war for a long time, and that's saying something, coming from me. I'm a friend of the current Queen. I was there when she was crowned."

Rose walked over and stared up at the display screens. She couldn't make any sense of the time-travel formulas and symbols, but she liked to think that she did. "So we're going to meet a fairy tale-ish king and queen?"

The Doctor pressed one final button and the TARDIS listed to starboard in the space-time continuum. "There's only a queen, actually. And... we're here."

Rose could feel it: the TARDIS had settled on firm land and she suddenly found herself eager to throw open the blue box's doors like usual. As soon as she did, however, a wall of noise crashed over her and she was suddenly jostled by tightly-packed people. "What...?"

"A riot? Here?" The Doctor peered over Rose's shoulders at the mob surrounding the TARDIS. He swung the doors all the way open and squeezed out. "Something isn't right."

After joining the Doctor in the crowd and shutting the TARDIS' doors behind her, Rose got a good look at where her Time Lord friend had taken her. Two brilliant yellow suns shone overhead in a cheery blue sky, but down here, things were getting ugly. Towering skyscrapers and apartments surrounded the mob, built with graceful curves and adorned with veins of crystal and bright colors. Other buildings, unfamiliar to Rose, filled the rest of the city.

"This is the city square, right in front of the palace," the Doctor observed, pointing at the wide building that sat atop a grassy green hill. To Rose's eyes, the palace was strongly reminiscent of the Kremlin, including the bulbous towers. For the moment, a small army of heavily armored soldiers stood with riot shields between the furious mob and the palace's front gates. Two spider-like machines stomped onto the scene with nasty-looking gun turrets on their silver underbellies.

A man's voice boomed on a bullhorn-like device. "This is the Royal Brigade! Leave the premises and return to your homes at once! Your behavior is not tolerated by your Queen!" As he spoke, the two spider-machines waved their guns around as a threat.

Rose couldn't bear it. She tugged on the sleeve of the nearest man. "What's going on?"

The man looked at her with mixed impatience and incredulity. "Are you dense?"

"S... sorry. I just got here, you see. I'm a tourist, and..."

"Then let me give you a tour." The man jabbed a finger at the pristine palace. "Our Queen Mathelea is ruining our world! She won't stop spreading those damned fungus colonies. And she abducts people by the thousands to tend to the fungi gardens."

The Doctor cleared his throat. "Fennglows?"

"Exactly!"

Rose opened her mouth to speak when the Doctor took her aside. "Fennglows are giant mushrooms cultivated for various effects," he told her. "Enhancing telepathy and spiritual abilities, not to mention food for some species. I hear that Fennglow soup is fantastic..."

"Doctor..."

"Right, sorry. Look, Fennglows have a market in this region of space but I never heard of them being grown on this world before. If Queen Mathelia is growing them, they'll get out of control and destroy this garden world for good. Like that vine on Earth, that Kudza..."

"Kudzu."

"Yes."

Rose looked back at the security troopers, who were now starting to beat back the screaming crowd with glowing red rods that gave off electric bolts. She felt panic tightening in her gut. "What do we do? Those people are getting hurt!"

The Doctor looked back at his time machine. "Request an audience with her highness."

*o*o*o*o*

This time, when Rose stepped out of the TARDIS she found herself in a cavernous entrance hall whose curving walls glowed with mounted crystals. Elaborate banners and tapestries hung from the ceiling and the floor looked like a deep green marble with white veins.

And there were six armored royal guards surrounding the TARDIS.

"Doctor, I don't think they appreciate this!" Rose warned her friend as he stepped out.

Despite the heavy weapons that the guards carried, the Doctor smiled. "It's all right, Rose. They're here to formally greet me."

Rose stared. "What do you..."

"Doctor! Welcome, welcome!" called a woman's voice. Rose perked up and watched as a rather tall woman slowly but gracefully made her way to the TARDIS, flanked by two more troopers. Her long red robes, jewelry, and expensive headpiece left no doubt in Rose's mind that she was the Queen. The woman seemed to be in her late forties with jet-black hair tied in a bun.

The Doctor made an odd bow. "Fortune be with you, majesty."

"The same unto you, Doctor. And who is this?" The Queen's inquisitive brown eyes turned to Rose. "Did you bring a dignitary from another world, like last time?"

"No, no." The Doctor clasped his hands on Rose's shoulders. "This is Rose Tyler of Earth. She is a friend. Does my good standing here permit me to bring a guest?" An innocent grin crossed his face.

The Queen studied Rose for a moment. "Yes, indeed. Welcome, Rose Tyler, to Bhealthea Torana. I trust that your visit has been most wondrous?"

"Actually," Rose confessed, "back there in the square people were -"

"It occurs to me," the Queen interrupted as she looked back at the Doctor, "that I will have a few empty seats tonight in the dining hall. Care to join me? Much has changed since you last came and I have a few issues to discuss with you, old friend."

Concern flashed across the Doctor's eyes. "I imagine so."

*o*o*o*o*

"So what's _this _one called?" Rose asked for what seemed the hundredth time that evening at the palace's dining hall. Right now, her finger pointed at a mass of bluish jelly that sat on a platter.

The Doctor didn't wait to finish his bite. "Broiled fat from the Gersso race. It's actually very nice. A delicacy."

"Talking with your mouth full?" Rose teased.

"I'm over 900 years old. I can do what I like," the Doctor teased back as he swallowed his bite and patted his napkin over his mouth.

They weren't alone; dozens of the Queen's dignitaries and aides took up the other seats and conversed endlessly with their liege who sat at the long table's head. _Is all business conducted at the dinner table? _Rose wondered.

"... yes, of course," the Queen finished her discussion with a man and turned to the Doctor. "Now, Doctor, I believe you need to be caught up a bit. I hope to also extend a business proposition to you."

The Doctor set down his knife and fork with an apprehensive expression on his face. "I'm listening."

"My world has grown fat and complacent for far too long," the Queen started with a staged sigh. "I do treasure the gardens and peace of my world, but at what cost? Doctor, the universe marches on with or without me, and I need my world to connect more fully with its neighbors. Surely you can understand that?"

"I do," the Doctor said.

"Very good. I have chosen the Fennglows as a cash crop," the Queen continued. "There's _such _a demand for it in this sector and I wish to put Bhealthea Torana on the map as more than a resort world. This is a major change that my people have needed for longer than they realize."

The Doctor's eyes narrowed very slightly. "There are other worlds. You didn't plant Fennglows on more lightly populated worlds? That fungus is voracious, my Queen, and if the colonies you're tending get out of control -"

"Bhealthea Torana's natural beauty would be lost. But of course, I won't allow that," the Queen said impatiently. "There's no other nearby worlds suitable for its cultivation, and the nearest ones beyond that would have prohibitively high costs to maintain from way back here. I thought you would be aware of that, Doctor."

Rose expected a hot retort from the Doctor but instead the Time Lord dipped his head. "Forgive me, your majesty. I should have remembered."

"Forgiven, Doctor. But I do believe that my world needs this. The Fennglows grow exceptionally well here and they're putting people to work. I've drawn many people from the labor pool who can operate and maintain the machinery and equipment needed to cultivate them. Very soon, all my hard work will pay off."

The Doctor paused for just a second. "And the profits will settle that mob outside your gates? Those people won't just go away."

"They've already been sent back home," the Queen said dismissively. "Such poor-mannered people! I hope, Doctor, that you could advocate my cause and help me settle my citizens down. With your experience and wisdom, it should be easy."

_The Doctor as someone's spokesman? I don't see him doing something like that, _Rose thought. The Doctor confirmed her thoughts.

"I am sorry, but I can't," the Doctor shook his head. "Your world is a place of rare beauty, your majesty, and your people want to see it preserved."

The Queen almost rose from her seat. "You're siding with the dissenters?" Her voice rose considerably and the other dignitaries gave the Doctor a shocked look.

"I meant to such thing. But I decline the offer, majesty," the Doctor insisted politely. "My friend and I will show ourselves out in the morning."

"That would be best," the Queen agreed. "You and Rose Tyler will be given quarters for the night. My guards will escort you there after dessert has been finished."

Although Rose could feel underlying tension hanging in the air, not another word about the fungi or riots was spoken for the rest of the dinner. She wondered just what kind of fairy tale this was supposed to be.

*o*o*o*o*

"Doctor! How dare you?" Queen Mathelea hissed as she whirled around to face her visitor. She stood at her spacious room's balcony, watching over her capital city. Several moons floated in the night sky and colonies of skyscraper-sized glowing mushrooms were visible in the far distance.

"I knew it," the Doctor said sternly as he strode into the room. His hardened face looked pale in the moonlight. "You're not Queen Mathelea, at least not in mind. You're host to a Kejac-Bora. Maybe the last of its kind."

The Queen's indignant expression melted into sorrow and fatigue. She sighed and ran a hand along the balcony's stone railing. "When did you figure it out?"

"During dinner. Only the Kejac-Bora are so obsessive and stern, the complete opposite of the real Queen Mathelea," the Doctor told her, standing a few paces behind the possessed Queen. "And only they would insist on growing Fennglows here. Your race uses them extensively as a catalyst for your spiritual powers."

The Queen chewed her lower lip. "How did you even get in here?"

Wordlessly, the Doctor drew his Sonic screwdriver from his pocket and held it up.

"Of course. Your magic tool."

The Doctor took another step toward the possessed Queen. "You cannot do this. Whatever you're planning to do with all that Fennglow can't be worth it! Bhealthea Torana is a true paradise, a retreat from war and greed and crime."

"I am the last of my kind!" the Queen shot back. "As you are of the Time Lords! We are kin. Surely you could understand me."

"You're a psychic parasite controlling Queen Mathelea in order to cultivate a whole world of Fennglows," the Doctor snapped. Fire burned in his eyes. "I know what it feels like to carry one alone." he clapped a hand to his heart. "I've seen and done more things than any being should, and still I continue _without _harming others for selfish reasons."

Now the Queen's face broke into a wide grin. "Not selfish at all. I will bring my people back once I've grown enough Fennglows. I can use them to enhance my powers, then channel my spiritual capabilities through an altar to revive my race. Bhealthea Torana will die, but many individuals will be born again."

"You can't do this!"

"You already said that, Doctor, and my response is the same. I can and I will!" the Queen growled as a bluish light began to glow in her eyes. "Either join me or find yourself in my dungeon. I won't let you leave and spread the truth."

The Doctor balled his hands into fists. "I won't let you sacrifice a world for your mad schemes. Your people can't revive that many individuals! The ritual would overload and destroy the whole planet!"

"You don't know that for a fact!"

"Believe me, I'm a _very _good guesser."

The Queen slammed her hand onto an intercom's button. "Guards! Arrest the Doctor and his companion Rose Tyler!"

The Doctor eyed the Queen warily as he backed out of the room. "You're making a big mistake, my Queen. I am very sorry to see this happen." Then, before he Queen could utter a word, the Doctor fled the room.

*o*o*o*o*

**To be concluded in part 2**


	2. Chapter 2

**DOCTOR WHO**

"**Dying Wish"**

**Part 2**

The Doctor could already hear the rapid, heavy footsteps of armored guards as he tore through the moonlit palace halls. Out of breath, he skidded to a halt at Rose's door and banged on it with a fist. "We have to go! Follow me!" he shouted through the wooden door. He hoped against hope that the guards wouldn't have him surrounded by now.

The wooden door swung open and Rose stared at the Doctor with alarm on her face. Her soft blonde hair was already askew from sleep. "What's going on?"

"Guards are after us. Follow me back to the TARDIS!" the Doctor urged her, backing up and motioning with his hands. He felt his hearts hammering in his chest.

As the sound of the guards' footsteps grew closer, Rose made up her mind and joined the Doctor on his mad dash back to the blue box waiting in the entrance hall. However, both time travelers could hear more guards coming from other parts of the palace, intent on blocking them off from the TARDIS.

"Arrest them!" shouted one of four guards who appeared from a side hall. The armored man leveled a nasty-looking laser rifle and he switched its firing mode to stun.

"Doctor?" Rose yelped, unable to take her eyes off the gun barrel as she slowly backed up in terror.

"You're not invited," the Doctor quipped as he pointed his Sonic screwdriver at the ceiling. With a quick buzz and a glow of blue light, the screwdriver triggered the palace's security system and slammed shut a fireproof emergency door. The soldiers yelled and pounded on the door's other side but the solid barricade held.

"Some time for jokes," Rose commented.

The Doctor slipped the silver screwdriver back into his leather jacket's inside pocket. "Relieves the tension. Next step... keep running!"

Rose didn't argue. She bolted through the palace's dimly-lit halls with the Doctor back to the cavernous entrance hall where the TARDIS idled in the light of wall-mounted light crystals. Just as the Doctor reached out and touched his hand to the TARDIS' handle, a whole platoon of guards spilled into the entrance hall and green stun bolts cris-crossed through the air. Ducking his head, the Doctor pushed the door open and both he and Rose scrambled into safety.

"Are we leaving?" Rose asked breathlessly as the Doctor slammed the door shut and hurried to the TARDIS' central control board.

"Leaving the palace, yes. But not this world," the Doctor answered tensely as he worked the controls. In seconds, the TARDIS' unmistakable _worrrp worrrp _sound filled the room. "The Queen is possessed by a psychic alien that's determined to sacrifice this world for its own gain."

"Somehow I should have guessed," Rose said dryly. "We're going to stop this evil thing now, aren't we?"

"It's not evil," the Doctor insisted as the TARDIS listed while it traveled in space. "The Kejac-Bora is lost and desperate, but that does not make it evil. I've seen _real _evil."

Rose hugged herself for warmth. "Then what is it?"

The Doctor looked up from his control panel. His face glowed an eerie blue-green from the lights. "Misguided."

*o*o*o*o*

"Wow, these things are even bigger in person," Rose said in awe as she stepped out the parked TARDIS. She could tell that only minutes had passed here on Bhealthea Torana; the same night sky, same urban lights in the capital city, same cool night breeze. Currently, she and the Doctor stood in a forest of redwood-sized glowing mushrooms. "These are the Fennglows?"

"They are," the Doctor affirmed as he led Rose up a catwalk. Farming equipment and scaffolding were everywhere. "The Kejac-Bora plans to use all these Fennglows to fuel its resurrection ritual, but the raw energy will spell disaster for this planet. Killing the Queen's body would destroy the parasite, but I will _not _take her life if I can avoid it."

Rose stared. "Your principles run deep."

The Doctor gave his human companion a bracing smile. "Thank you."

"So what are we going to do? Trash the fungus colony to prevent the ritual?"

"Exactly." The Doctor rubbed his hands together. "Once we start, the people's resentment will be driven into full-blown rebellion against the Fennglow cultivation in order to save their world's beauty. I'm going to provide the spark to set off the powder keg."

At first Rose wondered how she and the Doctor would cut down giant mushrooms like these... then she saw the size of the farming equipment. Multi-story, two-legged industrial machines sat where their operators had left them, and each had drills and saws on their arms for cultivating the ground.

A scaffolding provided a ladder for both the Doctor and Rose to climb to the nearest machine's cockpit, and once the both of them crammed themselves inside the Doctor pressed a few buttons on the control panel. The machine rumbled and vibrated as the engine came online and a screen on the dashboard demanded a password.

"Controls are intuitive," the Doctor explained as his Sonic screwdriver got past the password screen. He pointed out a few controls and outlined them. "This thing is designed for two operators."

"Bit different from driving a car, but okay," Rose joked nervously as she took the controls. At the Doctor's guidance, she helped maneuver the biped farming machine to the nearest mushroom and activated its industrial-grade drill. Huge chunks of rubbery mushroom flesh few everywhere as the drill punched into the glowing mushroom's stalk, and within seconds the whole thing came crashing down.

"Next one. We have to hurry," the Doctor urged as the machine began drilling another mushroom.

"Why?"

"Because of that." The Doctor pointed out the machine's cockpit windshield as three flying craft roared onto the scene. To Rose's eyes, they looked like futuristic helicopters with whirling rotors and pod-like bodies. The kingdom's royal crest was emblazoned on each craft's fuselage.

"I don't think the Queen appreciates this!" Rose warned as another mushroom fell.

"We'll stand down. No one needs to get hurt," the Doctor declared. He pressed a button and his voice boomed from an external speaker. "Listen to me! This Fennglow colony will only bring suffering to this world. I am only trying to help! I..."

The Doctor didn't get a chance to finish. Bright red lasers flew from the flying crafts' turrets and speared the biped farming machine, slicing its legs and breaching its inner components. With a loud creak of stressed metal, the vehicle pitched face-first and crashed to the earth, crushing a number of small, still-growing mushrooms. Both the Doctor and Rose braced themselves as the farming machine's head jostled them around, then the Doctor flipped a switch and the head popped open. The two occupants slowly climbed out of the head and onto open ground, dazed from the fall. Rose wrinkled her nose at a strange smell in the air that she hadn't noticed before. Had the crushed mushrooms released their spores?

The three flying craft touched down and armored guards marched down their boarding ramps. Dressed in her full regalia, Queen Mathelea walked down a craft's ramp and toward the Doctor with four troopers flanking her.

"You're making a terrible mistake," the Doctor grunted as he tried to get to his feet. He froze when the guards trained their weapons on him.

"You violated the privacy of my bedchambers, tampered with my palace's security and now you're vandalizing my Fennglow project!" the Queen overrode him. "Doctor, I thought that your presence would settle my troubles. Instead, you're adding to them."

"The Doctor told me everything on our way here," Rose pleaded. "Queen Mathelea, you can't sacrifice a whole world for your project! Some events are fixed points in time, like your races' extinction. This violates the universe's laws!"

The guards looked to their Queen with confusion written on their faces. "My liege?" one asked. "What is this visitor babbling about?"

Queen Mathelea waved an impatient hand through the air. "It's nothing at all. Both she and the Doctor are making excuses for their crimes against the state! I want them arrested!"

"Done." The guard nodded and ordered his guards to fire. Before any of them could squeeze the trigger, however, the guards cried out and collapsed as though paralyzed. Like her men, the Queen too fell, choking and trembling.

The Doctor slowly rose to his feet. "Immature Fennglows release paralyzing spores as a defense mechanism. Potent on humans..." he spread his arms wide. "And harmless to races like the Time Lords." He walked over and collected all the guards' weapons, disabling each one's firing mechanism with his screwdriver.

"Wh-what will we do now?" Rose coughed. She clawed at the earth to drag herself to her Time Lord friend, but the Fennglow spores kept her in check.

"What I must." The Doctor's face settled into a grim mask as he picked up the last laser rifle. Instead of disabling it, he trained the weapon on the paralyzed Queen and switched it back to lethal mode. "Queen Mathelea, you are host to a parasite that will bring this world to ruin! Order the Fennglow colonies destroyed and redeem yourself!"

The Queen coughed. "I-I don't take orders from you," she leered as her eyes glowed blue. "This frail human body succumbed to the spores, but my will shall be done! You will not slay me, Doctor. I know you won't."

"Won't I?"

"Those eyes are haunted by loss, your soul scarred by guilt. You won't condemn my kind to death," the Queen said, but her voice had grown distorted and echo-like. "Lower that toy and leave this world if you won't help me bring my kind back to life!"

"There are fixed points in time! Your race's time had come. The Kejac-Bora couldn't survive the ever-changing universe," the Doctor insisted, gripping the laser rifle until his knuckles turned white.

The Queen coughed again. "I grow tired of this debate. Perhaps I'll _force _you to see my way." Her eyes' glow intensified to a brilliant blaze and tendrils of psychic energy flowed into the Doctor's own eyes like water. At the touch, the Doctor wailed and dropped his weapon, falling to his knees as the Kejac-Bora's parasitic energy assaulted his mind. The energy filled the air with a roaring noise and the Queen began to rise to her feet.

"I-I can feel it... your loss, your agony of isolation," the Doctor shouted over the noise. His whole body convulsed. "Your all-consuming will to buy them back with the blood of Bhealthea Torana's people. It's selfish, but it's also... selfless..." He couldn't utter another word as the energy intensified.

Slowly the guards recovered themselves and staggered to their feet as the spore effects wore off, but Rose was already on her feet and sprinting to the possessed Queen. With a shout she tackled the Queen back to the ground, shocking the psychic parasite alien inside. With a snap the psychic link broke and the Queen gasped in alarm. "Kill her!" she shouted to her guards.

"What... what are you?" the guard captain said in shock. His eyes bugged out of his head.

"I am your Queen! Do as I say!" Queen Mathelea insisted, but Rose could tell from the woman's voice that she realized her mistake. In attempting to recruit the Doctor to her side, the parasite had revealed its presence. The guards surrounded the Queen.

"Bring back the real Queen Mathelea!" the guard captain demanded. "Get out of her body!"

The prone regent snarled. "I won't leave this shell! Do as I say, or I will have this body destroyed and your precious Queen dead!" She bolted to her feet and drew a knife from her robe, poising it at her own throat. "I came prepared, should I need to take this body hostage."

"Put the knife down. Put it down!" the guard captain barked, but his voice sounded more panicked than firm. No way would he let his Queen die, even if she had a psychic parasite in her mind.

"Will you help me raise the Fennglows and resurrect my people?" the Queen asked, her tone hard. "Will you take my side and keep your Queen alive?"

"That ritual will consume her body and shatter this world," the Doctor warned. "Don't listen to her. Her dying wish is to sacrifice this world to bring back a race that belongs in extinction."

The guard's eyes bugged out of his head. "But she'll kill herself if we _don't_ help her! I cannot allow her to die if I can help it!"

"Which is worth more, your world or this Queen? There can be another ruler of Bhealthea Torana."

"Don't tell me to kill her!" the captain barked. "I am sworn to protect the Queen and her people from all threats!"

"And her _people_," Rose pointed out. "What if the Queen is the threat against your kingdom's people?"

"Join me," the Queen cajoled the guard captain. "You are sworn to me! You and your men will be rewarded beyond your wildest dreams!"

"But I..." the captain faltered, falling his armored hands into fists. His men looked to him for guidance, but he had none to give.

"Doctor, you can't kill me either," the Queen added. "I am the last of my kind. You won't condemn my race to the void, so join me. Let my race be reborn."

"D... Doctor?" Rose asked uncertainly. She kept her eyes trained on the Time Lord, who has sweat running down his face and his chest was heaving with heavy breaths.

Then, the Doctor made his decision. With a pained shout, he sprinted past the guards, shoved one of them aside, and seized the Queen's knife hand. With a spurt of blood, he drove the sharp silver blade into the Queen's heart.

"Aaaaaaaargh!" the Queen threw back her head and made a ghastly howl as a wispy, ethereal body wafted from her mouth and into the open air. The guards cried out in alarm and the captain took a step toward the Doctor, but they all stopped when the Kejac-Bora fully escaped the Queen's body and dissolved into alien mist. The Queen's blood-soaked body slumped to the soft earth, inert.

The guard captain worked his jaw. "What did you just do?" he exploded. "My Queen..."

"Was dead the moment the Kejac-Bora claimed her body," the Doctor thundered. His hard eyes bored into the captain's own frightened eyes. "That parasite was not going to let her go until it killed your planet to bring back its race. I had the strength to save a world." He looked down at the Queen's body. "And I had weakness that let her die." He whirled around and walked off in the direction of the TARDIS. No one moved to stop him.

"Make sure everyone knows the truth," Rose advised the captain as she set off to follow the Doctor. "And take down these fungus colonies. They're hideous."

*o*o*o*o*

Rose didn't dare say a word as she watched the Doctor pilot the TARDIS in its central chamber. Instead, she sat on a wall-mounted bench and tucked up her knees to her face, her arms wrapped around her legs. For a moment, everything was quiet. Then...

"Rose, I'm so sorry." The Doctor made one final adjustment to the TARDIS and walked over to his human companion. "You had to see me at my worst. Sometimes the universe doesn't go the way I would like it to, and when it forces my hand I -"

He stopped when Rose got up and wrapped him in a tight hug. "It's okay, Doctor. I know you did it for the universe's best interests," Rose said quietly, burying her face in the Doctor's jacket. "It was that parasite's dying wish to save a race. We just helped it save a different race than it meant to."

The Doctor swallowed. "When I... killed her, I felt that I had betrayed myself. I took a life, Rose, something I swore never to do. But you forgive me?"

"I always do."

"Fantastic."

Rose made a face. "Huh?"

"If your forgive me, then our journey can continue," the Doctor declared, sounding a bit cheered up as Rose parted from him. "And sometime, I might forgive myself."

"I know you will."

Rose joined the Doctor at the TARDIS' control panel, the both of them in better spirits as the time machine continued its endless trek through space.

**THE END**


End file.
